Little Bits of History

Saginaw Weekly Courier-Herald, Thursday, August 22, 1890

Forty-two years ago a wild plum orchard occupied the ground where the mill office of C.K. Eddy & Son and the store of T.J. Norris now stand.

The name of the post office in Chesaning township was changed from North Hampton to Chesaning in 1853.  

A stage route was established between Saginaw and Zilwaukie in 1853.  A telegraph line was established between Saginaw and Detroit the same year.

The first Presbyterian church was organized in Saginaw in 1838.

A school was conducted in a log shanty on the present site of the Bancroft House in 1851, with Miss Ingersoll as teacher.

The first man convicted of murder in Bay County was Peter Van Gestle, for the murder of Peter Van Wert.  The crime was committed January 31, 1859.  The following April Van Gestle was tried, convicted and sentenced to solitary confinement for life.  He died in state prison May 7, 1870.

Ephrian S. Williams, of Flint, whose death notice appeared in this paper a few days ago, and Governor Vinton, of Mt. Morris, Genesee county, were the only remaining voters left that voted at the first town meeting ever held in Saginaw, "which was in 1831".  At the election there was only 15 or 16 votes polled.  Mr. Vinton is now the only survivor of the first voters of Saginaw.

Dennis Bow, of Bridgeport, came to this county in 1836 and is still here.  His grand father was a soldier in the revolutionary war.  

Bridgeport township was organized in 1848.  In 18?? Thompson & Green built a mill in this township, and in 1856 O.A. Lull also built one, both being located on Cass River.  They have long since passed away.

Col. John Northwood has been a resident of Maple Grove township since 1854, and is one of the foremost farmers in that section of the county.

Gardner W. Foster, of Taymouth, was born on the banks of the Tittabawassee River, three miles above Saginaw, in 1831, and he is still a resident of the county.

Arthur Ross, County Treasurer, has been a resident of this county since 1845.  His father located in Taymouth township in the that year. 

The night that William Callam was 16 years old he slept under the boiler of a Mississippi River steamboat at St. Paul.  He hadn't money enough to pay for a bed or for his breakfast.  He found employment, however as he possessed indomitable energy and got along in the world.  He came to Saginaw about 27 years ago and first worked in a mill.  Now he owns a mill of his own at Cecil Bay, a magnificent farm of some 800 acres or more a few miles east of the city, and in every respect is one of the solid men of the city.

Hon. John S. Estabrook came to this city in 1852 and liked the prospect so well that he settled here and is still one of the leading citizens of the commercial metropolis of Northern Michigan.

E.W. Perry, erected a saw mill on Perry Creek, a tributary of Cass River, in 1837 and manufactured the lumber used in the construction of the Webster House, on the west side.

The first fort built by Americans north of Detroit, was erected at Saginaw in 1822.

The first house in Saginaw was erected by Louis Campau in 1816.

In 1850 the population of Bridgeport township was 374; Buena Vista 251; Chesaning 122; Taymouth 48; Tittabawassee 341, and City of Saginaw 917, making a total of 2,063 for the county.

In 1834 the census of Saginaw township, taken by Orison Allen, was 303, and in 1836 what now constitutes the counties of Saginaw, Bay, Tuscola, Midland, Gratiot and Isabella had a population of 900.

The first marriage celebrated in the township of Saginaw was in 1832, that of Ariel Campeau and Madeline Mashos.

In 1665 Father Claude Allonez, a Jesuit priest, established a mission at Saginaw.

The first crop of wheat raised in Saginaw county, was harvested by C.A. Lull in 1835.

The brig Griffin anchored at the mouth of the Saginaw River in 1674.  Nearly two-thirds of the Indians living in Saginaw county in 1838 were destroyed by small-pox.

The first salt was made in the Saginaw valley under the superintendence of Dr. H. C. Potter, the present general manager of the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad.  The well was bored by Sanford Keeler, now superintendent of the road.

The Circuit Court of Saginaw county was established under an act of the Territorial legislature assembly, approved February 12, 1835, which provided that a term of court should be held for the county of Saginaw on Tuesday next after the fourth Monday in June, and on the second Tuesday next after the fourth Monday in January in each year.

January 10, 1836, the first entry was made in the record book of the Probate Court in Saginaw County.  Albert Miller was the first probate judge.  He is now living in Bay City.

John M. Gugel located in Frankenmuth in 1860.  He has been supervisor and member of the state legislature.